The Donkervoort F22 Final Five Is A Feral Five-Cylinder Send-Off

Audi’s glorious 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine isn’t long for this world. Once the freshly-updated RS3 reaches the end of its lifecycle, it’s likely to go the way of pretty much every other engine these days that isn’t a turbocharged four-banger, and that’s left another company – low-volume Dutch manufacturer, Donkervoort – feeling a bit down.

See, for the last 14 years or so, Donkervoort – which is sort of like a sci-fi version of Caterham with a name seemingly devised just to trip up native English speakers – has relied on the engine, cranking it up to a fairly ludicrous 493bhp in its latest car, the F22.

The F22 is also the company’s last car set to use the five-pot, so for the last – you guessed it – five examples, it’s done something a bit special. Nobody was ever accusing the standard 750kg F22 of needing to lay off the stroopwafels and go for a jog, but Donkervoort’s given it a crash diet anyway.

Carbon-ceramic brake discs shave 2.5kg off each corner, and a new titanium exhaust system knocks another 4kg out of the car overall. Then, there's a full set of carbon fibre wheels and bodywork made entirely from exposed carbon too. The result is something with a kerb weight of just 716kg.

Perhaps sensibly, Donkervoort has resisted the urge to turn the wick up on the engine any more. 493bhp and 472lb ft of torque in a car as lightweight as one of those rustly waterproof jackets means 62mph in 2.5 seconds, 124mph in 7.5 seconds, and a 180mph top speed. Fast enough, we think you’ll agree. It continues to send power to the back wheels by way of a five-speed manual and Torsen LSD.

The first Final Five has already been delivered to someone described only as a ‘Donkervoort Ambassador’, while the other four have had their specifications finalised by their owners – fairly wealthy owners, for what it’s worth: each of the Final Five started at a hair over £263,500, before taxes.

Luckily, Donkervoort isn’t spending too much time glumly moping about over the end of the five-pot. It’s teasing something else that it’s cooking up, something we’re promised will give the established hypercar set “something new to worry about.” All we’re told is that it won’t be electric, nor will it cost many millions. Consider us intrigued.